Assad's second diplomatic trip in days accelerates easing of lockdown

President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, greeted in the Emirati capital by a 21-gun salute, is gradually resurfacing after the global avoidance that followed his violent crushing of his country's uprising in 2011.

President Bashar al-Assad of Syria traveled to the United Arab Emirates on Sunday for an official visit, a sign of the growing momentum with which he is returning to the international stage after a decade of isolation.

Regarded as an outcast in many parts of the world for overseeing shelling and torturing his people when a 2011 uprising turned into a civil war, Mr. al-Assad was greeted in Abu Dhabi, the Emirati capital, on Sunday with a 21-gun salute, according to a report by the emirates official news agency.

< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">The trip took place qu A few days after Mr. al-Assad traveled to Moscow to meet President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, and almost exactly one year since the Syrian leader's last visit to the United Arab Emirates, which was his first reception by an Arab country since the start of the Syrian civil war.

At the time, a State Department spokesman, Ned Price, said that Washington was "deeply disappointed and troubled by this apparent attempt to legitimize Bashar al-Assad, who remains responsible for the death and suffering of countless Syrians, the displacement of more than half of Syria's pre-war population and the detention arbitrariness and the disappearance of more than 150,000 Syrian men, women and children. has only gained ground since then as other Arab leaders grapple with keeping him in power. Syria's new reality, which means it can no longer be eliminated ed,” Mahdi Dakhlallah, a Syrian politician and diplomat from the Baath Party, said by telephone from Damascus.

Mr. al-Assad was received by a delegation that included Emirati leader Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, and the two discussed "fraternal relations" between their countries, the agency said. Sheikh Mohammed also offered his condolences to the victims of the deadly earthquake that struck Syria and Turkey last month, and expressed confidence that Syria would overcome the crisis and "enter a new era".

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The earthquake, which killed more than 50,000 people in Turkey and Syria, thrust Mr. al-Assad into the softer light of disaster diplomacy, further consolidating its position in the region. After the earthquake, he met with several Arab officials, including the Emirati, Egyptian and Jordanian foreign ministers, who traveled to Damascus to offer their condolences. The United Arab Emirates has pledged $100 million in aid.

Sunday marked the first time in years that Mr. al-Assad's wife , Asma al-Assad, appeared with him on an official visit. A Syrian presidency Twitter account shared photos of her in a white suit, smiling and chatting with the Emirati delegation.

The United Arab Emirates is a small, wealthy country in oil Persian Gulf country with outsized global influence where officials are keen to maintain relations with competing powers, including the United States, China, Russia and Iran. He paved the way for Arab countries by restoring ties with Mr. al-Assad's government and reopened his embassy in Syria in 2018.

The visit to Abu Dhabi is "an affirmation of Syria's restoration to its role", Dakhlallah said. "It's still in its infancy, but it's started."

Regional political heavyweight Saudi Arabia has yet to follow suit. When the uprising began, the kingdom first